ILAB Federal Register Notice
Bureau of International Labor Affairs; Request for Information
Concerning Labor Rights in Chile and Its Laws Governing Exploitative
Child Labor [02/26/2003]
Volume 68, Number 38, Page 8928
[[Page 8928]]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Office of the Secretary
Bureau of International Labor Affairs; Request for Information
Concerning Labor Rights in Chile and Its Laws Governing Exploitative
Child Labor
AGENCIES: Office of the Secretary, Labor; Office of the United States
Trade Representative and Department of State.
ACTION: Request for public comments.
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SUMMARY: This notice is a request for public comments to assist the
Secretary of Labor, the United States Trade Representative, and the
Secretary of State in preparing reports regarding labor rights in Chile
and describing the extent to which Chile has in effect laws governing
exploitative child labor. The Trade Act of 2002 requires reports on
these issues and others when the President intends to use trade
promotion authority procedures in connection with legislation approving
and implementing a trade agreement. On December 11, 2002, negotiators
for the United States and Chile announced that they had reached
substantive agreement on a Free Trade Agreement. On January 31, 2003,
President Bush notified the Congress of his intent to enter into an FTA
with Chile. This agreement will be subject to trade promotion authority
procedures. The President assigned the functions of preparing reports
regarding labor rights and the existence of laws governing exploitative
child labor to the Secretary of Labor, in consultation with the
Secretary of State and the United States Trade Representative. The
Secretary of Labor further assigned these functions to the Secretary of
State and United States Trade Representative.
DATES: Public comments should be received no later than 5 p.m. March
28, 2003.
ADDRESSES: Persons submitting comments are strongly advised to make
such submissions by electronic mail to the following address:
FRFTACHILE@dol.gov. Submissions by facsimile may be sent to: Betsy
White at the Office of International Economic Affairs, Bureau of
International Labor Affairs (202) 693-4851.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For procedural questions regarding the
submissions, please contact Betsy White, Bureau of International Labor
Affairs, Office of International Economic Affairs, at (202) 693-4919,
facsimile (202) 693-4851. These are not toll-free numbers. Substantive
questions concerning the labor rights report and/or the report on
Chile's laws governing exploitative child labor should be addressed to
Jorge Perez-Lopez, Office of International Economic Affairs, Bureau of
International Labor Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210, telephone (202) 693-4883.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Trade Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-210) (the Trade Act) sets forth
special procedures (Trade Promotion Authority) for approval and
implementation of Agreements subject to meeting conditions and
requirements in the Act. Division B of the Trade Act, entitled the
Bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority Act of 2002, includes negotiating
objectives and a listing of priorities for the President to promote in
order to ``address and maintain United States competitiveness in the
global economy'' in pursuing future trade agreements. 19 U.S.C.
3802(a)-(c). The President delegated several of the functions in
section 3802(c) to the Secretary of Labor. (E.O. 13277). These include
the functions set forth in section 2102(c)(8), which requires that the
President ``in connection with any trade negotiations entered into
under this Act, submit to the Committee on Ways and Means of the House
of Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate a
meaningful labor rights report of the country, or countries, with
respect to which the President is negotiating'' and the function in
section 2102(c)(9), which requires that the President ``with respect to
any trade agreement which the President seeks to implement under trade
authorities procedures, submit to the Congress a report describing the
extent to which the country or countries that are parties to the
agreement have in effect laws governing exploitative child labor.''
II. Information Sought
Interested parties are invited to submit written information as
specified below to be taken into account in drafting the required
reports. Materials submitted should be confined to the specific topics
of the reports. In particular, agencies are seeking written submissions
on the following topics:
1. Chile's labor laws, including laws governing exploitative child
labor, and Chile's implementation and enforcement of such laws and
regulations;
2. The situation in Chile with respect to core labor standards;
3. Steps taken by Chile to comply with International Labor
Organization Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor; and
4. The nature and extent, if any, of exploitative child labor in
Chile.
Section 2113(6) of the Trade Act defines ``core labor standards''
as:
(A) The right of association;
(B) The right to organize and bargain collectively;
(C) A prohibition on the use of any form of forced or compulsory
labor;
(D) A minimum age for the employment of children; and
(E) Acceptable conditions of work with respect to minimum wages,
hours of work, and occupational safety and health.
III. Requirements for Submissions
This document is a request for facts or opinions submitted in
response to a general solicitation of comments from the public. To
ensure prompt and full consideration of submissions, we strongly
recommend that interested persons submit comments by electronic mail to
the following e-mail address: FRFTACHILE@dol.gov. Persons making
submissions by e-mail should use the following subject line: ``Chile:
Labor Rights and Child Labor Reports.'' Documents should be submitted
in WordPerfect, MSWord, or text (.TXT) format. Supporting documentation
submitted as spreadsheets is acceptable in Quattro Pro or Excel format.
Persons who make submissions by e-mail should not provide separate
cover letters; information that might appear in a cover letter should
be included in the submission itself. Similarly, to the extent
possible, any attachments to the submission should be included in the
same file as the submission itself, and not as separate files. Written
comments will be placed in a file open to public inspection at the
Department of Labor, Room S-5317, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW.,
Washington DC and in the USTR Reading Room in Room 3 of the annex of
the Office of the USTR, 1724 F Street, NW., Washington, DC 20508. An
appointment to review the file at the Department of Labor may be made
by contacting Betsy White at (202) 693-4919. An appointment to review
the file at USTR may be made by calling (202) 395-6186. The USTR
Reading Room is generally open to the public from 10 a.m.-12 noon and
1-4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Appointments must be scheduled at least
48 hours in advance.
Signed at Washington, DC this 20th day of February, 2003.
Thomas B. Moorhead,
Deputy Under Secretary for International Affairs.
[FR Doc. 03-4499 Filed 2-25-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-28-P
